Abstract
Africa is the least developed broadband region worldwide, with broadband penetration rates mostly under 1%. Latin America - another developing broadband region - has significantly higher rates with around 6%. In total less than 4% of Africans have Internet access.
Much the same as their overall economic situation, African countries are at very different stages in terms of broadband evolution. Countries such as Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, South Africa and Botswana have far higher fixed and mobile penetration than countries from the sub-Saharan part, such as Ethiopia, Niger or Zimbabwe. South Africa, Egypt and Algeria are leading the African countries in terms of total number of subscribers. In general, mobile penetration in African countries is much higher than fixed penetration. The biggest issue for African countries for greater broadband take-up is its affordability (as in other developing regions/countries). Our analysis shows that only the minority of the population in African countries can actually afford broadband services.
Table of Contents
Ovum view
- Broadband development is lagging
- Current statistics
Key broadband characteristics of African countries
- Affordability
- Broadband coverage
- Intercontinental upload capacity
- Regulatory environment
- Copper theft
Broadband situation by country
- South Africa
- Morocco
- Ethiopia
Table of figures
- Figure 1. Africa: fixed line and mobile penetration
- Figure 2. Broadband penetration (2007)
- Table 1. Key indicators for African countries (2007)
- Figure 3. GNI per capita in 2006 (Atlas method)
- Figure 4. Income distribution in African countries (date: depending on date of survey)
- Figure 5. Annual broadband prices in African countries ($)
- Figure 6. Africa: maximum and minimum broadband speed by country
- Figure 7. Proportion of population in rural areas (%)
- Table 2. Africa: 3G licences
- Table 3. South Africa: top-level broadband data (000s)
- Table 4. South Africa: broadband subscribers (000s)
- Table 5. Morocco: top-level broadband data
- Table 6. Morocco: broadband subscribers (000s)
- Table 7. Ethiopia: top-level broadband data (000s)
- Table 8. Ethiopia: broadband player subscribers (000s)
